The Real Tomoe
by ratpigeon
Summary: When Kenshin was in the fallen village, he was visited by a geezer. Now Enishi has found his way there, and he needs someone to help him find his sister's smile and stand up agaain. Spoilers for Jichuu. T just in case
1. Hurry Go Round

I Don't own Rurouni Kenshin, and this applies to any and all following chapters. Thisfirst chapter is a recount of chapter 251 in the Manga – Hurry Go Round (from Enishi's POV). Enishi is one of my favourite characters, but so sad… in that tradition then, this will end up fairly angsty. I was originally going to call this _Smile For Me_, but someone had already titled a fic 'Smile for me Hikari' – look it up, it's really good. Instead I called it…

_The Real Tomoe_

Chapter One, Hurry Go Round

Enishi felt… numb. His left hand held his sister's diary, because he was not quite able to bring himself to throw this last remnant of her away. In his mind, Tomoe was not smiling. She hadn't smiled since he began _Jinchuu_.

"You're a new face around here." Enishi didn't look up, but his good ear heard someone sit down beside him. The other was still crusted with blood from the _Ryumeisen_.

"Hmmm…Is it just I my head, or have we met somewhere before?" Enishi doesn't respond, wishing that this irritating old man with his too-cheerful voice would go away. The man didn't seem to need an answer though, continuing with a quiet laugh.

"Ah, sorry, it must be my mind playing tricks." Enishi did look up now, and would have felt surprise if he'd had the energy. The old Geezer _did_ seem familiar…

"My mind must be playing tricks too. I've seen your face before…" he said quietly, letting his eyes drop downwards, and once again, they rested on Tomoe's diary. He hadn't read it yet. It seemed like a violation of his sister's soul. Merely having it, and feeling her close was enough.

"Hmm…This is interesting." Said the old man. Enishi could hear the smile in the fool's voice as they gazed out over the fallen village. "We are acquainted by a mind trick." The small birds fluttering around his head, chirping brightly, painful to Enishi's ears. The sound was so happy. Even here, in this village for the lost, even here there was happiness…But still, she wouldn't smile…

"What you have lost, and why you are so beat up…I have no intention of asking such things. You will not throw that away, and so, like him, you will not become a resident of this filthy village, and someday will stand up and leave this place.

"Until then, think of this as kind fate, and take your time and rest." The old man fell silent, and Enishi let his eyes slip closed. But he did not fall into slumber. That would be to easy. There is no rest for the wicked, and there would be no rest for him; not until she smiled for him once again.

Over the stench that permeated the village, so faint that it must have been in Enishi's imagination, was the scent of _hakubaiko_…

This was mostly an introduction. I'm not quite sure where this is going to end up yet, but please bear with me till then ^_^ ~Ratpigeon.

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	2. Geezer

Chapter Two, Geezer

The next day the geezer returned, and the day after. Each time, the faintest scent of _Hakubaiko_ followed him, stirring long-forgotten memories in Enishi's heart. The scent…was one of happiness, abandoned on his quest for justice…his quest for revenge. Each day, sitting beside the geezer, Enishi remembered his childhood with Tomoe, and their loving, Samurai father. Each day, Tomoe still refused to smile for him, like she was waiting for something. Each day, his grip on his sister's diary loosened slightly.

"Have you read that?" The geezer's voice broke through the exhausted haze that Enishi's mind had retreated to, accompanied by the _hakubaiko_. Enishi shook his head slightly, still waiting for his sister to smile.

"You should never throw a book away before you've read it." The Geezer said quietly. Around them, the residents of the fallen village gave them a wide berth, they had no desire to deal with this strange, white-haired man in torn, foreign clothes that were crusted with blood several weeks old. They'd learned to avoid this type of person after the samurai, to leave them to the geezer's gentle words. Only Kuma watched them, his one eye unreadable.

"This isn't a book to read…" Enishi murmured, tightening his grip slightly. "This is my sister's soul."

"Your sister?"

"Yukishiro Tomoe…" The words slipped from Enishi's mouth, the first time he'd said them in many years…since before she'd died. Beside him, the old man stiffened.

"Read the book." He said, his voice quiet, and more subdued than Enishi had ever heard. Something in the Geezer's tone stirred Enishi to action, and, expending more physical effort than he had since arriving at the fallen village, and seating himself against this battered wall, he lifted the book and let it fall open. Exposing the secrets of his sister's soul.

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	3. Diary

Chapter Three, Diary

It began with the entry on April 4th, _News of the murder of Kiyosato Akira-Sama arrives from Kyoto. I simply could not believe it, and regret not stopping him from leaving, but it is all too late..._

It began, as Enishi had expected. The cold, calculating plans for revenge. The anger and sadness that she felt at not being able to save Kiyosato, _Akira-sama_, Her fiancée, Her childhood friend, Her happiness. The _Guilt_ She felt had not been expected though. The beginning, he understood. But then, the tone changed, so gradually that he did not notice it at first.

The icy hardness was replaced with hints of softness…how peaceful _his_ face was when he slept…the mad justice that he personified, and the struggle she made to sheathe it for him, not to further her plans for vengeance, but to protect him…that he said, with such honesty, that he could never harm her, even if she held a sword. Enishi had expected none of this, but he read on, and his disbelief increased as he read about the genuine love that the two had come to share. The last entry was the most telling of all, and as Enishi read, he felt the hot moisture gathering in his eyes, but he would not let the tears fall onto Her soul, bared in these pages...

_I let him die by not stopping him, and gave myself away to get him killed. But instead of Killing him, I ended up loving him... I can't have him die again. He said -_

_'__The happiness you lost once to this chaos…I will protect this time round'_.

These words were quoted, in such bold handwriting, that Enishi finally understood.

She had _known_. She had died for him, and _he_ had spent every moment since then, regretting it; in a self-devised hell. More than that, She would have accepted the girl, the _replacement_, because the Tomoe that he had deified within his mind was not his real sister, but a twisted shadow. _The real Tomoe…is kinder than anyone or anything, and She will watch me…forever._

*

Sorry this chapter is short, there aren't many quotes from Tomoe's diary to work with, so I took some liberties...

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	4. Hakubaiko

Chapter Four, Hakubaiko

Enishi closed the diary, holding it so tightly that his hands ached, he looked at the geezer.

"Who are you, old man?"

"I'm just an old man. All I have is my kindness. Who are you, Yukishiro Enishi?" The old man's eyes were piercing as he looked at Enishi. Waiting for something, exactly like his sister's eyes…

"I am a fool." Murmured Enishi quietly to the diary. Tomoe's eyes softened, but she still did not smile. "How did you know my name, Old man?"

"I heard of a young ma named Enishi causing havoc recently. It was a lucky guess." The old man said, smiling behind his cracked glasses. "Why did you do it?"

"I wanted to bring justice to the man who killed my sister." The Geezer was silent for along time after that. Enishi had begun to think that he'd left before he finally spoke again.

"Did you?"

"No." The Geezer stood up when Enishi answered, and began rummaging though his tattered robe.

"Here, I have a gift for you." He said quietly, pulling out a tiny glass bottle. " The scent soothes the mind. The last man to come here, who was also not yet ready to cast away his hopes; I think he also found some measure of peace from it. Unlike you though, he gripped a sword…" The geezer uncorked the bottle with a clink, letting the waves of Plum blossom fragrance drift over Enishi. "You should visit her grave, I'm sure she misses you." With that, the old Geezer turned and left Enishi's side for the last time, but Enishi didn't notice. Shortly afterwards though, he corked the bottle, holding it and the diary to his chest. He had realised, in the instant that the _hakubaiko_ scent washed over him, who the old man was, but even so, he did not follow. There was only one person that he still cared about, and she was finally smiling at him. Standing up, Yukishino Enishi stood up, and left the fallen village. It was time to visit his sister's grave.

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That's the end. I hope you like it. I don't think I could make it any longer – angst is really hard. I hate sad stories! They're so sad...~_~ and the third chapter was a pain. I didn't have the right manga with me to figure out what it should say. Ah well, water under the bridge. Thankyou for reviewing this story, which I do not own. (Those of you that bother at least. You are the bread and butter of insecure authors like myself) ~ Ratpigeon.


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